Designer Apparel and Footwear (Ready-To-Wear) in Brazil

2021 DEVELOPMENTS

Unprecedented sales peak in the second half of 2020 reverse the negative results

Sales of designer apparel and footwear saw a 2020 of ups and downs. In the first half of the year, the restrictive measures for social interactions made most brands project huge declines; but, in the second semester, the relative sense of a more controlled situation related to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic made consumers resume their shopping activities following the health protocols.

The investments in classic pieces in 2020 are replaced by fashionable items in 2021

During the period of closed frontiers in 2020, Brazilian consumers perceived interesting local opportunities with the maintenance of prices among brands. Compared with the new reality of a very devaluated currency, luxury consumption in Brazil revealed itself as advantageous.

E-commerce broadens interfaces with consumers and finds synergy with the activities of salespeople

During the period of the global sanitary crisis, the Brazilian operations of luxury brands managed to achieve good performances especially due to the long-term use of remote selling, a practice that emerged long before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. WhatsApp is by far the most common instant messenger among Brazilians and the interactions through the app have been used for years as a very active channel of communication between clients and luxury stores.

PROSPECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Monobrand e-commerce and luxury marketplaces divide the main brands’ strategies

The debate over the most promising e-commerce strategies has been at the centre of discussions among luxury brands. Traditional brands such as Louis Vuitton have been managing their own e-commerce platforms out of concern to have full control over the brands’ narratives and final consumers’ experience.

Luxury brands tend to import more initiatives to deal with the challenge of attracting younger consumers

The global challenge for luxury brands to attract more consumers among younger generations also takes place in the Brazilian market. Most brands still report a prevalence of older consumers as this mature group has been more frequently impacted by the culture of aspirational consumption and enjoys more robust average disposable incomes.

Major brands expect consumers to be more connected to local offers in luxury

Affluent Brazilians that traditionally used to focus their touristic activities abroad, have lately experienced an unprecedented permanence within their home country’s borders. Many of these consumers made local purchases of certain luxury brands for the first time.